Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

"dad."

"We're going back to the capital."

"Those old scores."

"I will do it one stroke at a time."

"Take it back myself."

Liu Ming's voice was soft, yet it carried a resolute quality that could penetrate mountains and rivers.

Outside the window, the wind rises.

The wind scattered the fallen leaves all over the ground.

It also sounded the most tragic charge of this new era.

"Director Liu, what... are you thinking about?" Li Erniu asked in a low voice from the passenger seat.

Liu Ming slowly closed her eyes.

"I'm thinking..."

"...Is the wind in the capital colder than here?"

Official document with red header. Urgent confidential document.

The cover features only one line of bold black text: Director of the High-Tech Industry Department of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Liu Ming sat in the back seat of the speeding Hongqi sedan, her fingertips lightly tracing the slightly rough edges of the paper. The frosted texture traveled from her fingertips back to her brain, bringing with it an extremely heavy, even somewhat oppressive, sense of power.

This is not an ordinary appointment or dismissal notice.

This is a ticket to the center of power.

"Director..." Li Erniu, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around, lowered his voice, and said with barely concealed excitement, "I just checked, and the power of this 'High Technology Department' is terrifying."

Liu Ming closed the file, turned her gaze to the window, and looked at the winter wilderness rushing across the North China Plain. Her eyes were as deep as a dry well.

Is it big?

"Of course it's huge!" Li Erniu counted on his fingers, as if listing his treasures. "Semiconductors, commercial aerospace, quantum computing, biopharmaceuticals, and that most expensive lithography machine project... All the 'national strategic assets' that involve the fate of the nation and the competition for the next century, the approval authority for project establishment, the access to national-level laboratories, and most importantly—the allocation authority for hundreds of billions of yuan in special scientific research funds every year, are all in the hands of this department."

Li Erniu swallowed hard and added, "This isn't just being an official; it's practically controlling the nation's high-tech life-and-death register!"

Liu Ming listened, but there was no smile on her lips. Instead, she gently shook her head.

High-Tech Industries Division.

But Liu Ming knew very well what was going on.

That spot is not for receiving good fortune.

That's for... stopping bullets.

……

"Boss, I just hacked into the National Development and Reform Commission's internal office network."

In the headphones, Ghost Hand's voice sounded somewhat distorted due to the electrical interference, but his professional rigor remained undiminished.

"The situation is more complicated than we expected. There are two deputy directors in the High Technology Department. One is Zhou Jianping, a 'workhorse' who has been there for ten years. The other is Zhao Ruihu, who just came from the province."

"Zhao Ruihu?" Liu Ming's eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing the name. "Zhao Ruilong's older brother?"

"That's right, it's him." Ghost Hand sneered. "That bastard is quick on his feet. While you were still cleaning in Ningzhou, he had already secured a position in the High-Tech Division thanks to his 'comprador group' behind him."

"Besides Zhao Ruihu, at least three of the five section chiefs in the department have shady dealings with multinational giants abroad. They are nominally in charge of approving projects, but in reality, they are acting as 'gatekeepers.' Any self-developed projects that are truly threatening will be 'technically' rejected by them under various pretexts."

"On the other hand, those shell companies that only use PowerPoint presentations to fraudulently obtain subsidies and are actually acting as agents for foreign capital can receive huge amounts of government funding."

As Liu Ming listened to Ghost Hand's report, her hands, which were resting on her knees, slowly clenched into fists.

This is the current state of China's technological transformation.

Externally, it faces encirclement by powerful nations, which cut off supply chains and lock up patent pools.

It is riddled with parasites that gnaw at it, selling data and enriching themselves.

This is a hopelessly intractable problem.

That's one too.

Someone has to rush in with a knife and cut the knot in the bloodiest and most decisive way.

"Therefore, the top leadership's decision to bring me back at this time is not for the purpose of rewarding merit."

Liu Ming's voice was low and deep, each word sounding as if it were squeezed out from between his teeth.

"They want me to be... the one who wields the knife."

"They wanted me to expose the dark web of interests woven by 'comprador forces' and 'Western financial magnates'."

……

The buildings along the roadside are no longer the ostentatious glass curtain walls of Ningzhou, but rather blue bricks and tiles imbued with a sense of weight and historical accumulation. Guard posts have become more frequent, and every passing car seems to carry some kind of mysterious background.

Liu Ming sat in the car, feeling the increasingly intense sense of oppression.

He recalled the words Old Lin had said to him before he left.

Some people will elevate you to the heavens, only to wait for you to fall and shatter. Others will hold you tightly by the leg, dragging you into that bottomless quagmire.

"But don't be afraid."

"You are 'Dragon Fang.' You are Liu Jianguo's son."

"Your mission is to smash open that technological door that has been locked by chains for ten years."

Liu Ming opened her eyes again.

He looked at the towering office building not far away.

That's the National Development and Reform Commission.

It is a sacred place that countless people look up to, and it is also the end point that his father regretted for the rest of his life.

"Director, we've arrived." Li Erniu's voice was a little tense.

He saw a row of men in suits standing at the entrance of the building, with the one in the lead looking at him with a forced smile.

That's Zhao Ruihu.

This is also the first opponent Liu Ming will face after arriving in Beijing...

Liu Ming straightened his tie.

In that instant, his refined scholarly air vanished completely. In its place was a fighting spirit—a spirit he had only possessed when facing an enemy force many times his size alone in the primeval jungle—cold, precise, and with a beast-like instinct.

He pushed open the car door and strode towards the center of that vortex of power.

Sunlight shone on his resolute profile, casting a long, sharp silhouette.

he knows.

This was a trap set up specifically for him by the central government.

A desperate situation that led to a breakthrough.

And he was that one.

The only thing that can shatter the ice... is a cannonball.

Liu Ming knew that this was a scheme orchestrated by the central government to break through the technological blockade.